Card index system



Sept. 3 D. A, CASEY 1,821,459

CARD INDEX SYSTEM Filed Feb. 19, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet l IN V EN TOR.

A. CASE Y Sept. 1, 1931., CASEY 1,821,459

CARD INDEX SYSTEM Filed Feb. 19, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR;

DEV/W5 4. CA5EY ATTORNEYS.

Patented Sept. 1, 1931 r nmmrs 4. on

m, or nnw cums. LOUISIANA Application fled February 18, 1989. Serial No. 841,111.

This invention ap ertains to card filing or index systems and more particularl to means for Withdrawing a desired card om a group of filed cards. 7

One of the primary objects of my invention is to provide novel means for quickly and accurately locating a desired card in a group of filed cards and withdrawing said card from the group of cards.

Another important object of my invention is the provisionof a n0vel-device for receiving a plurality of filed cards with means including a keyboard, which is adapted to be actuated by an operator, similar to a typewriter, for locating the desired card among a group of filed cards. 7

A further salient object of my invention is the provision of a novel device for receiving aplurality of filing cards, the device including a novel casing and drawer,

the drawer carrying a lurality of key-operated levers corres on ing to the letters of the alphabet, the led cards having their lower edges out according to the letters con- 26 stituting the name of the person on the card, whereby upon operation of the desired keys, the desired card will be located and segregated from the other cards, so that upon movement of the drawer, the segregated card will be withdrawn from the casing.

A further object of the invention is the provision of means for quickly and accurately locating and withdrawing a card from a group of filing cards, which is so arranged and constructed as to eliminate the necessity of the cards being filed alphabetically. s

A still further object of the invention is to provide a card index system of the above character, which will be durable and eflicient in use, one which will be simple and easy to manufacture, and one which can be placed upon the market at a reasonable cost.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts, as will be hereinafter more specifically described, claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which'drawing's:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the improved device; y

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the same;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 looking in the opposite direction;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section through the improved device taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 illustrating the position of the key levers after being operated for selecting the desired card, the card being shown selected and se regated from the remaining cards;

igure 6 is a view similar to Fi res 4 and 5 showing the segregated can? being withdrawn from the file;

Figure 7 is a transverse section through the improved device taken on the line 7-7 of Figure 4 looking in the direction of the arrows, the main levers being operated only;

Figure 8 is a transverse section taken on the line 8-8 of Figure 5 looking in the direction of the arrows, showing certain of the key levers in their operative position with the main levers released so as to bring about the selection of the desired card;

Figure 9 is a transverse section artly broken away taken on the line 99 0? Figure 4 looking in the direction of the arrows showing the main'keys in their operative raised position; s

Figure 10 is a fragmentary perspective view of the front portion of the machine showing certain of the ke s with the main key levers in their raise operative position;

Fi re 11 is an enlarged fra mentary longitucfii ial section illustrating the manner of the keys engaging the cards, one of the cards being selected thereby;

Figure 12 is a erspective view of one type of card used in the index system and I igure 13 is a ers ective view 0 another form of card which can be used in the index system.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter A generally indicates the improved card filing or index device which comprises a casing or frame 15 and a sliding drawer 30 carrying the operatin mechanism 40.

T e casin 15 can be made of any desired material an constructed in any preferred way and suitably painted or otherwise ornamented to create a pleasin and attractive appearance. This casing em odies front and rear walls 16 and 17, and end walls 18 and 19. The to of the casing is left 0 en so as to ermit t e easy insertion of t e filing car s therein, one form of filing card bein indicated by the reference character C an another form of filing card by the reference character D. The end wall 18 is provided with an opening 20 through which the drawer 30 slides and the inner faces of the front and rear walls 16 and 17 are provided with longitudinally extending drawer guides 21 and directl above the drawer ides 21 the end wal 18 has the sides of t e opening 20 provided with guide notches 22 for a urpose which will be later described. he end wall 19 is provided with an opening 23 of less size than the opening 20 and a portion of the drawer slides through said opening during the opening and closing of said drawer. The side walls of the opening 23 are also provided with guide notches 24 which are in alignment with the guide notches 22 in the end wall 18. for a purpose which will also be described.

Projecting forwardly from the end wall 18 is an open frame and guide piece 25, which also forms a supporting leg for the casing and it is to be noted that the lower edge of the open frame 25 is in the same plane as the lower edge of the wall 18 and that the opening 20 in the said wall 18 communicates with the interior of the open frame.

The drawer 30 which is slidably supported by the casing 15 and'extends longitudinally thereof includes longitudinal side walls 31 and 32 and a connectin front wall 33 which extends a considera le distance above the side walls 31 and 32 for completely closing the opening 20 when the drawer is in its closed position. It is to be noted that the drawer when in its completely closed position, extends through the formed on the outer faces of the side walls 31 and 32 and these ribs on age and rest upon the guide ribs 21 carried and rear walls 16 and 17 of the casing 15.

by the front These guides slidably extend throu h the notches 22 and 24 formed in the en walls 18 and 19. The front wall 33 of the drawer can be provided with any preferred type of hand pull 36.

The side walls 31 and 32 of the drawer are provided at equi-distantl spaced points inward of the platform or ottom wall 34 with a plurality of vertical slots 37 for receiving a portion of the operatin mechanism 40, which will now be descri ed.

The operating mechanism 40 includes a keyboard 41 carried by the drawer 30 and this ke board is somewhat along the line of the eyboard of a typewriter. The keyboard 41 constitutes a lurality of keys 42, a key being employed or each letter of the alphabet and 'the keys are preferably arranged in two horizontal rows, the innermost row starting with A and endi with M and the outermost row starting with the letter N and endingwith the letter Z. The keys are each of a substantially bell-crank shape and are rockably mounted at their angles on a pivot pin 43 which extends through the vertical slots 37 of the side wall 31 of the drawer 30. This pin 43 is arranged adjacent to the lower ends, of the vertical slots and the keys extend through the said slots.

Extending transversely of the casin 15 and the drawer 30 is a plurality of Treyoperated selective key-bars 44, a key-bar being provided foreach key 42, and these key-bars likewise extend through the slots '37. Each key is connected with a respective key-bar 44 adjacent to but s aced from the extreme forward end thereo by means of a ivot pin 45, the ivot pin being carried y the upper end of the key. The rear ends of the key-bars 44 are pivotally connected to links 46, which are normally arranged in the vertical slots 37 formed in the side wall 32 of the drawer, and these links 46 are rockably mounted on a suitable pivot in 47 carrled bp the walls of the slots 37 a jacent to the lower ends thereof.

By this arrangement it can be seen that when a key is depressed, its corresponding key-bar will be raised upwardly in a horizontal plane for lifting the cards C which are placed within the drawer. The drawer is also provided with two main key-bars 48 which are preferably disposed at the opposite ends of the key-bars 44 and the rear ends of the main key bars 48 are pivotally connected to links 49 which correspond to the links 46 and these links 49 are also mounted for rocking movement on pivot pin 43 carried by the walls of the slots 37 formed'in the wall 32 of the drawer adjacent to the lower ends of said slots. The forward ends of the main key-bars 48 extend through two of the slots 37 formed in the wall 31 of the drawer and have pivotally connected tnel-eto adlacent to the forward ends thereof main my levers 51 which are also of a substantially bell-crank shape.- The main ke levers 51 are connected together by a ront bar 52 for synchronous movement.

After a predetermined number. of keys 42 have been actuated to raise the desired key-bars 44 and the desired card selected and delivered as hereinafter explained, means is provided for simultaneously returning all of the keys to their normal positions. This means includes a swinging substantially U- shaped return bail lever 53, which has the terminals of the legs thereof mounted for swinging movement in ears 54 carried by the wall 31. of-the drawer 30 above the keyboard 41- A suitable manipulatingkey'55 is provided for the return lever and the bight portion of the return lever is arranged in the path of the key-bars any one or more of the key-bars are raised and pushed forwardly, the return lever will likewise be raised. It thus can be seen that by depressing the keg 55, all of the key-bars will be returned to t eir normal positions.

Attention is now invited to Figure 12 showing one of the cards C, which is of such a size and shape as to fit within the casing l5 and to extend longitudinally thereof. The cards are adapted to normally rest upon the key-bars 44 and 48, at which time the upper ends of the cards liejust below the upper wall of the opening 20- of the end wall 18 of the casing so that all of the cards can be withdrawn with the drawer 30 when the keys are all in their normal position. However, when the main key-bars 48 are in theirraised position, the cards will be held above the opening 20 as shown in Figure 7 of the drawings, and thusthe cards will not be withdrawn with the drawer. Each card can be rovided with any desired type of indicia suc as the name and address of a. person as indicated by the reference character 60. In accordance with my invention, each card has printed thereon adjacent to the lower edge thereof the letters of the alphabet'as indicated by the reference character 61 and the letters are preferably arranged according tothe arrangement of the letters on the keys 42, so that when a certain key of a certain letter is depressed, the key-bar will be disposed directly below the corresponding letter on the card. Thus, in the present instance, the letter N on the card is arranged between the letters A and B in view of the fact that the key-bar 44 of the key N lies between the key-bars 44 of the keys A and B. In accordance with the invention, the lower edge of the card is cut in any desired way to provide notches 62 into which the keybars 44 are adapted, to fit and these notches are out according to the letters in the name of the person appearing on the card. Thus,

44 so that when.

in the present instance, the name appearing on the card is H. Ford, therefore notches will be cut .in the card directly under the letters H, F, O, R and D.

- The cards do not have to be filed alphabetically and can be placed within the draw- 7 er in 'an arrangement and when it is desired to with raw a certain card from the filing device A the following operation takes lace. The operator depresses the connectmg bar 52 which will raise all of the cards, after which the keys bearing the letters H, F, O, R and D are depressed, which will raise the key-bars '44 0 these keys in the same plane as the main key-bars 48. The main ey-bars 48 are now returned to their lower position by ullin up on the connecting bar 52, and al of t e cards, except the card having the notches in its lower ed e corresponding to the raised keys, will still be held in a raised position,'due to the fact that the lower ed es of these cards will rest upon the tops of t e key-bars 44. The draw- .er 30 can now be pulled out by means of the pull 36, and the cards which are held in a raised position will be revented from being drawn out with the rawer in view of the fact that these cards engage the end wall 18 of the casing above the opening 20. The card having the slots corresponding to the raised keys will of course drop down due to the slots 62 formed therein and this card will lie below the top wall of the opening 20 in the end wall and will be drawn outwith the drawer where the same can be removed or the matter thereon quickly seen. As the drawer is pulled outwardly, the bottom wall or platform 34 thereof will ride under the cards remaining in the casing and afford additional support to the same in the raised position.

After the card has been removed or the desired matter received therefrom, the drawer is returnedto its normal'position and the key. can be depressed to return all of the ke s 42 to their normal positions.

rom the foregoing it can be seen that I have provided an exceptionally novel and simple device which will (luickly segregate and select a, desired card rom a group of filed cards without the necessity of going.

through the entire group of cards.

In certain filing systems the cards are selected by numbers instead of by names, such as in telephone companies and the like, andin this instance the car D, Figure 13, can be used and the machine can be slightly altered in reference to the keyboard for handling such type of cards. As shown the card D is provided with a body portion for receiving any desired data, while the lower edge of the card is divided into a horizontal row of spaces 71 by a horizontal line 72. and vertical equi-distantly spaced lines 72. Each space receives a set of di its 73 which are arranged in consecutive order and the lower edge of the card is notched the same as the card C, the notches appearing under the desired numbers. I prefer to provide the plurality of roups of numbers or digits 73 for the fol owing reason. If a number has one or more like characters such as the number 7771, notches are made in the card under 7 in the first three s aces and under the 1 in the first space, wlnc permits of a greater variety of numbers to be used, and in this instance four groups of keys Will be provided in the keyboard having num-' bers thereon corresponding to the numbers in the difierent spaces.

Changes in details may be made without departing from the. spirit or the scope of this invention, but:

What I claim as new is:

1. A device for selecting a desired card from a group of filed cards comprising a casin having a drawer o ening, a drawer slidabIy mounted in sai casing through the opening for receiving the groups of filed cards a plurality of selective key-bars carried by the drawer for selecting a desired card, operatin keys for said bars, the cards being adapte to normally rest upon the selective key-bars, and releasable means for initially raising all of the cards with their upper ed es above the drawer opening, said selective ey bars adapted when operated to hold the cards other than the selected card above the drawer opening when said means is released. I

2. In a device for selecting a desired card from a group of filed cards, the combination with a casin having a drawer opening, a drawer slida 1y mounted in said casing through the opening, a plurality of selective key-bars carrled by the drawer for swinging arallel motion-and a key for each selective ey-bar, of a plurality of cards adapted to be received within the drawer longitudinall thereof and to rest upon the selective keyars, means for initially raising all of the cards above the drawer opening, the cards having notches cut in the lower edges thereof at certain selected points to correspond to certain selective key-bars, whereby when certain selective key-bars are actuated and the initial card raising means is released the card having the notches therein corresponding to said actuated key-bars will be selected from the group of cards by moving in a plane below the other cards and in alignment with the drawer opening, so that upon 0 ening of the drawer the selected card wi 1 be moved outward therewith.

3. A device for selecting a desired card from a group of filed cards, the combination with a casing, a drawer slidably mounted through one end wall of said casing, a plurality of movable key-bars carried by the drawer movable in a vertical plane, an operating key for each key-bar, of a plurality of cards adapted to normally rest upon the upper ed es of said key-bars, the cards having their ower ed es provided with notches to correspond wit certain key-bars, each card being notched to corres nd to certain indicia thereon, a pair of mamkey-bars carried by the drawer and movable in a vertical plane, and out of alignment with the notches in said cards, means for synchronously raising the main key-bars for lifting all of the cards simultaneously and above the drawer opening in the casing, and above the other key-bars, whereby upon operation of the selected first mentioned key-bars and upon return of the main key-bars to normal position the card having notches therein corresponding to the raised ke -bars will be permitted to fall to a lowere position in alignment with the drawer openmg, so that upon movement of the drawer to its 0 en position the lowered card will be exposed to view. 4.. In a device for the purpose specified, a casing including an end wall havin a drawer opening therein, a drawer slida 1y mounted in said opening, a plurality of movable selective key-bars carried by the drawer, a pair of movable main key-bars, means for synchronously operating the main key-bars, an independent key for each of said selective key-bars, and means for synchronously returning all of said selective key-bars to their normal position after actuation by said keys.

5. In a device of the class described, a 100 casin a drawer slidable in the casin a plura ity of selective ke -bars movable in a horizontal lane carrie by the drawer, an operating ey for each selective key-bar, each key being of substantially bell-crank 105 shape, means pivoting the keys at their angles to the drawer, means pivotally connecting the upper end of each key to its respective selective key-bar, a link pivotally connected to each selective key-bar adjacent to 110 the rear end thereof, means pivotally connecting the lower ends of the links to the drawer, whereby upon movement of a key its selective key-bar will be raised, a pair of main key-bars, a link pivotally connected pivoted at its angle to the drawer, means ivotally connecting the upper end of each ey to its selective key-bar adjacent to the forward end thereof, a link pivotally connected to the rear end of each selective keybar, means pivotally connecting the lower end of each link to the drawer in spaced relation to said key, a pair of main keybars arranged on each side of the selective key-bars, a link pivotally connected to the rear end of each [main key-bar, means pivotally connecting the last mentioned links at their lower ends to the drawer, a pair of main operating keys of bellcrank shape pivoted at their angles tothe drawer, means pivotally connecting the upper ends of the main main key-bars, and means for synchronously returning all of the selective key-bars to normal lowered position including a swinging cross-bar arranged in the Tpath of the forward ends of said selective key-bars.

7. In a device of the class described, a casing including a front wall having a longitudlnally extending slot therein, a rear wall, and end Walls, vided with a drawer opening, a drawer slidably mounted in said casing through said opening, including side walls having vertical slots therein, and a connecting platform therefor arranged at the rear end thereof, a plurality of selective ke -bars arranged transversely of the drawer i a vertical lane arranged in said slots, an operating ey for each selective key-bar of substantially bell-crank shape extending through the vertical slots in one wall of the drawer, means pivotally connecting the keys at their angles to the drawer, means otally connecting the upper ends of the keys to the selective key-bars, links pivotally connected to the rear ends of said selective keybars, means pivotally connecting the lower ends of said links in the slots in the other side wall of the drawer, whereby upon movement of a key a selective key-bar will be moved to a raised position, means for synchronously returning all of the'key-bars to their normal lowered positions, and independently operated main key-bars carried by the drawer and movable in a plane parallel with the selective key-bars.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

DENNIS A. CASEY.

operating keys to the one end wall being proor movement in 

